Halo 3: ODST
"Prepare to Drop." : - Halo 3 ODST tagline Halo 3 ODST ''(formerly known as ''Halo 3 Recon) or simply Halo: ODST or ODST, is a first person shooter science fiction video game developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. However, due to the Xbox One's lack of backwards compatibility, it cannot be played on its successor console. It is a spinoff from the main trilogy, taking place between and during the events of Halo 2 and Halo 3. It serves as a de facto prologue to Halo 3. Halo 3 ODST ''was released September 22, 2009, not long after the release of ''Halo Wars by Ensemble Studios. It was originally supposed to be just an expansion pack for Halo 3, named Halo 3 Recon. ''However, Bungie released its potential, and instead made it into an independent game, although it is heavily connected to ''Halo 3, especially in terms of multiplayer. Halo 3 ODST ''saw large success, just like its predecessors, managing to sell a total of 2.5 million copies were sold in the inital weeks of release, totalling a sum of 125 million US dollars. An official five-part prequel comic series called ''Halo: Helljumper was released in the months leading up to Halo 3 ODST's release. Starting in July, they continued to release until the end of November, two months after the game's release. Later, on May 3, 2010, an invitation to all Halo 3 ODST ''players to play the ''Halo Reach Multiplayer Beta was made, and the beta lasted until May 20, 2010. On December 19, 2014, as an apology for the state of the game's poor server management, 343 Industries made Halo 3 ODST ''a downloadable content package for ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection for Xbox One. Once downloaded, it was then added in the Halo 3 ''submenu. Nothing changed for the game, except that all content was removed aside for the campaign, as well as updated graphics, including the game running at sixty frames per second and 1080 pixel resolution, and the removal of Firefight. Story Plot ''Halo 3 ODST ''is unique as ''Halo ''campaigns go. It is also the first ''Halo ''game (excluding ''Halo Wars) where the main player is NOT John-117, or features him in any fashion. The player instead takes control of multiple characters throughout the course of the game, all of them being Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of the Alpha-Nine unit. Unlike other games, it does not delve into the canon as much, but instead focuses more on the characters themselves, and their situation, morals and what their mission really is. With a unique soundtrack that stands out from that of the rest of the franchise, Halo 3 ODST ''has a much less complex/diverse campaign, but is rich all the same. It is also the only game to feature a open-world campaign level that isn't strictly linear. ''Halo 3 ODST ''takes place during the events leading up to the end of the level Metropolis in the game ''Halo 2. Onboard a Marathon-Class Heavy Cruiser called the [[UNSC Say My Name|UNSC Say My Name]], in orbit over Earth, the ODST squad, Alpha-Nine, overlooks the battle plan. Their mission: board the Solemn Penance, and kill the Prophet of Regret. The commander of the unit, Edward Buck, then arrives alongside an ONI agent, Veronica Dare, and informs them that she is their new commander. Ordered into their pods, Romeo proceeds to rudely awaken the Rookie, who was sleeping. Entering his pod and sealing it, Alpha-Nine proceeds to launch from the Say My Name ''alongside the rest of hundreds of other ODSTs, moving towards New Mombasa. Just as they begin their final approach, Dare orders a course correction, much to the squad's confusion. Before anything can be done about it however, the ''Solemn Penance ''enters slipspace, and the resulting explosion kills most of the ODSTs, and sends Alpha-Nine flying into different directions, scattering them all over the city. The Rookie is knocked out by the impact. Waking up six hours later at nighttime, the Rookie breaks his way out of his pod and begins to explore the streets, searching for his squad. Along the way, he engages multiple Covenant patrols, and even comes into contact with the city's AI, the Superintendent, who helps him find his squad. Travelling into Tayari Plaza, the Rookie finds Dare's Recon helmet wedged into a vidscreen and tears it out. In a flashback, we are returned to the moments just after the slipspace rupture. Buck's pod lands near Tayari Plaza, and proceeds to break out, managing to gain contact with Dare, who is trapped in her own pod. Locking onto her signal, Buck begins to fight his way through the damaged streets of the city, and with the help of scattered UNSC forces, manages to reach Tayari Plaza, only to discover Dare missing. Believing her dead, Buck is about to give up when a Engineer approaches him, holding her helmet. It is about to give it to him when a sniper round pierces it, causing it to explode, sending her helmet slamming into a vidscreen in a building above. Romeo reveals himself, and after a quick appraisal of his situation, Buck declares he's going to find his squad, and get the hell out of the city. Back to the present, the Rookie continues his search, eventually arriving just outside Uplift Reserve; Mombasa's Zoo. It's there that he finds a crashed drone fighter, as well as its torn off optics. He picks them up to look at them, gazing into it. Another flashback sequence begins, this time 30 minutes after the slipspace event. Dutch has just woken up from the pod in time to watch a squadron of drone fighters fly by, before proceeding into Uplift Reserve to aid surviving UNSC forces fight off Covenant troops. Managing to procure a vehicle, Dutch fights his way towards the ''Solemn Penance's landing site under the orders of the Colonel. However, the collapse of the New Mombasa Space Elevator severely damages the city. The resulting destruction also kills the Colonel, while also devastating numerous UNSC forces in the area. With the original plan no longer viable, Dutch leads a charge with the rest of the marines, and manages to escape the Reserve. Afterwards, he remarks to God about he didn't train to be a pilot and, seemingly in answer, a drone fighter crashes into the area, its optics getting torn off and sliding along the ground (where the Rookie will later find it). Still not convinced, he asks for a definitive answer, and the vehicle he escapes on seems to explode. Back to the present, the Rookie continues his search once more, eventually arriving on Kizingo Boulevard, where he finds the remains of a big battle, as well as a damaged Gauss turret. He grabs a hold of it, examining the damage. And then begins yet another flashback; this time, 90 minutes after the slipspace event. Mickey arrives near Kizingo Boulevard, where a convoy of Scorpion tanks is about to be encircled and destroyed a convoy of Covenant Wraiths. He then commandeers one of the Scorpions and blows a hole through the enemy convoy, and together the UNSC troops make their way towards Kizingo Boulevard, battling more Covenant troops along the way. Finally, they reach Kizingo Boulevard, just in time for a Wraith to destroy a Gauss turret (later to be found by the Rookie). Blowing the remaining defenses, Mickey runs into Dutch, and together, the two of them make their way towards the center of the Boulevard. There, they help the UNSC forces hold their position against the Covenant onslaught, and succeed. In the aftermath of the battle, Mickey suggests holding their position and awaiting backup, when a NMPD officer opens the gate, asking for someone proficient in explosives (which just happens to be, ironically, Mickey). The two of them follow the officer inside the tunnel. Back to the present, the Rookie continues his search again, tracing the path Mickey and Dutch took, even through the tunnel. There, he finds the destroyed, flaming ruins of ONI Alpha Site, as well as the crumbled, now destroyed, bridge that led to it across the water. It is there that he finds one of the explosive detonators used to destroy the bridge, and fiddles with it. Another flashback begins; two hours after the slipspace event. A massive battle is taking place; the bridge, still standing at this time, is currently being swarmed by Covenant forces who are trying to gain access to ONI Alpha Site, which the ODSTs, NMPD and a few UNSC marines are trying to defend. Mickey sets the detonators with Dutch's help, and both retreat across the bridge. After an argument with the Superintendent, Dutch finally gains access to the detonator, and he blows the bridge, destroying it and annihilating the Covenant forces trying to cross it. However, this only slows them down, and they quickly utilize phantom dropships to deploy forces on the opposite side. The defenders retreat to their secondary positions, and fight against the Covenant assault, but when Hunters, Brute Chieftains and Wraiths begin to deploy, the defenders are quickly overwhelmed, and forced to fall back into the structure. Inside, they are setting up their tertiary position, the NMPD Sergeant orders his men to check the charges, revealing his plan to destroy the base and deny the Covenant access to its databases. They manage to hold off the Covenant assault in time for the charges to be set, and after battling a swarm of drones, retreat to the rooftop. There, they manage to catch an evac Pelican. There, one of the officers informs Dutch and Mickey that their sergeant, Buck, is trying to contact them. Opening a link, they manage to set up a RV point at the NMPD Headquarters building. After, the survivors watch as the charges detonate, and the ONI base erupts in a giant pillar of flame. Back to the present, the Rookie retreats from the area and heads towards NMPD HQ. There, he finds a sniper rifle, twisted and mangled, hanging from a piece of wiring. Grabbing a pole, he manages to poke it out and catches it, trying to bend it back, but finds it too well done and simply looks up, trying to see where it came from. Another flashback begins; three hours after the slipspace event. Buck and Romeo arrive on the rooftop of the NMPD HQ, where they argue over whether or not the Rookie could be alive or not. The argument ends with no winner as the NMPD Pelican arrives, only for it to be ambushed by two Banshees and shot down. The Pelican spins out of control, and proceeds to crash ontop of another building. Buck and Romeo quickly begin fighting their way through the building, trying to find a way to reach the one the Pelican crashed ontop of. Finally, they reach another landing pad, where Mickey and Dutch have used a crane as a bridge to help them cross. Moving over, they proceed to assist Mickey and Dutch in holding off enemy forces, including multiple waves of Banshees and Phantoms. Finally however, one final Phantom deploys a Brute Chieftain, who kills a few officers and destroys Romeo's sniper rifle, tossing it over the edge (where the Rookie will later find it) before using the opposite end of his hammer to slam into Romeo's chest, puncturing a lung and mortally wounding him. Buck, Mickey and Dutch gang up on the Chieftain and kill it, and then check to see if Romeo is okay. With the Pelican gone, Buck announces his plan to find another way out of the city. Back to the present, the Rookie continues his search, tracing the group's path to Kikowani Station. There, he finds a discarded biofoam cannister, tossed carelessly across the ground. Picking it up, he examines it. One final flashback occurs; five hours after the slipspace event. The squad arrives at Kikowani Station, where it is now nighttime in the city, and Romeo is having trouble breathing. Putting him down, Buck pumps the wound full of biofoam, helping him breathe. Buck asks if he should carry Romeo, but his only answer is Romeo standing up to walk inside. Smiling, he tosses the used cannister away (where the Rookie will later find it) and they quickly retreat inside, where Mickey is currently observing the flooded railway tunnels. Instead, Buck hatches a plan to hijack a Phantom. Overwhelming the forces protecting it, Mickey assumes control of the vehicle, and Dutch and Romeo move inside, while Buck confiscates a Banshee as escort. Together, they move through the city ruins, fighting through Covenant AA batteries and troops, until they reach the exit, where a Scarab is blocking it. Buck manages to destroy it, and together they escape the city, Buck ditching his Banshee to leap into the Phantom's gravity lift. However, before they can leave, Buck orders them to turn back, realizing that he now knows that Dare is alive, and where to find her. Back to the present, the Rookie investigates the area, where the Superintendent shows him to an access elevator to the city's data center, where the Superintendent's core is located. Jumping inside, the Rookie soon arrives within the data center, where he intercepts numerous attempted transmissions from Dare to Buck, with her lamenting over her inability to tell him what the mission really was. Fighting back numerous Covenant forces with the help of the Superintendent, as well as briefly aided by a NMPD officer who, if all 29 Audio Logs were collected, will be shown to be corrupt, and try to kill you if you follow him where you're not supposed to. Otherwise, if you collected none of the Audio Logs or fell short of the required number, he will be ambushed and killed by drones. Either way, you will soon reach Dare, who will tell you that her true mission was to extract the Superintendent from the city. However, her job was made impossible when the events of the Battle of Alpha Site and the destruction of the building woke up the entire Drone Hive within the data center. Forced into pushing, Dare and the Rookie creep through the data center, but are eventually forced to fight their way through. They do eventually reach the Superintendent's core, where it is revealed that the AI had been dead for quite some time; having been commandeered by a terrified, and defecting, Engineer named Vergil. Dare reveals that the Engineer has defected from the Covenant, and wishes to help them. Not long after, Buck arrives, and with his help, they all manage to escape the data center to the surface. There, Dare and Buck reunite before proceeding to escort Vergil, with the help of the Rookie, towards the Waterfront Highway. They soon arrive to find Truth's fleet already arriving, moving towards the center of the city. Buck announces that he knew this was happening, but was too busy trying to find Dare to care much about it. After a heated argument, Vergil interrupts it by discovering that he has found a working Olifant, and Dare quickly enters it, ordering Buck and the Rookie to protect them. Together, they fight through Covenant forces as they move along the highway towards the phantom's landing zone. In the distance, they watch as Truth's fleet begin to glass the city; a sight which makes Buck distraught. They carry on until Scarabs begin exiting the water and entering the city, one of which fires upon the Olifant and immobilizes it completely. Unharmed, Vergil and Dare exit the vehicle, rejoin the Rookie and Buck, and enter the atrium of Uplift Reserve, where they hold position until the phantom arrives. Eventually, they manage to get Vergil onto the Phantom just as a third CAS-Class Assault Carrier arrives. They escape just as it fires its energy projector, glassing the atrium. Watching from the phantom, they watch as Truth's fleet glasses the city, revealing that New Mombasa had been sitting ontop of the portal the entire time. Buck asks if there's a chance that he and Dare could be together again, and she responds with, "Win this war, then ask me that again." Vergil enters the cockpit, and the Phantom continues to ascend into the atmosphere as the credits roll. The game then ends. Later, in a scene after the credits, in a station at the top of the Quito Space Tether, Dare is seen escorting Johnson to Vergil, telling him that the interrogation will go her way, and Johnson agrees, understanding her position. Entering, they find the whole of Alpha-Nine waiting, save Romeo, and the Rookie, who is asleep in a corner. Johnson addresses Vergil, telling it that he wants to stop the Brutes as much as he does. To show its understanding, Vergil takes the offered firelighter and lights Johnson's cigar, who simply grins at Vergil as the scene ends. In a legendary ending of the game, the Prophet of Truth is shown in the data center, watching the unveiling of the portal. He turns to the screen, grins, and then heads toward an awaiting Phantom, likely to return to his ship. Presumably, this is where the events of Tsavo Highway in ''Halo 3 ''take place. Campaign